Chet Baker piensa en su arte: this title brings together the essential corpus of Enrique Vila-Matas’ short fiction from 1988 to 2010, a period in which his work went through a radical transformation.
Perhaps because the short story is still at the heart of his work, despite the fact that the author ceased to obey the traditional rules of the genre some time ago, Chet Baker piensa en su arte is presented as an indispensable work for understanding the literature of Vila-Matas. T
his work also contains a long, intense unpublished story that gives its title to the collection, and which proposes a new genre, that of ‘critical fiction’: one night, in a hotel room in Turin, a literary critic searches for the meeting point between radical literature as embodied by Joyce’s last work, and traditional good quality literature as represented by Simenon. He is searching for the book that ideally will unite the readers of highly demanding minority works with those of more commercial ones.
Chet Baker piensa en su arte is an original short novel that can be read as a genuine – yet daring – continuation of the ‘English leap’ trilogy he began with Dublinesca.
«El lector –y la literatura- sale a la vez engrandecido y rejuvenecido de Chet Baker piensa en su arte.» Philippe Rolland, Le Magazine Littéraire
«Una vez más Vila-Matas asombra y encanta.» Olivier Renault, Artpress
«An inspired flight over and above almost all Spanish writers.» J. M. Pozuelo Yvancos, ABC
Chet Baker piensa en su arte: this title brings together the essential corpus of Enrique Vila-Matas’ short fiction from 1988 to 2010, a period in which his work went through a radical transformation.
Perhaps because the short story is still at the heart of his work, despite the fact that the author ceased to obey the traditional rules of the genre some time ago, Chet Baker piensa en su arte is presented as an indispensable work for understanding the literature of Vila-Matas. T
his work also contains a long, intense unpublished story that gives its title to the collection, and which proposes a new genre, that of ‘critical fiction’: one night, in a hotel room in Turin, a literary critic searches for the meeting point between radical literature as embodied by Joyce’s last work, and traditional good quality literature as represented by Simenon. He is searching for the book that ideally will unite the readers of highly demanding minority works with those of more commercial ones.
Chet Baker piensa en su arte is an original short novel that can be read as a genuine – yet daring – continuation of the ‘English leap’ trilogy he began with Dublinesca.
«El lector –y la literatura- sale a la vez engrandecido y rejuvenecido de Chet Baker piensa en su arte.» Philippe Rolland, Le Magazine Littéraire
«Una vez más Vila-Matas asombra y encanta.» Olivier Renault, Artpress
«An inspired flight over and above almost all Spanish writers.» J. M. Pozuelo Yvancos, ABC
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Montevideo | Seix-Barral, 2022
This Senseless Fog | Seix Barral, 2019
Cabinet d'Amateur, an Oblique Novel | Whitechapel, 2019
Try Your Luck | Círculo de Tiza, 2018
Mac's Problem | Seix Barral, 2017
Marienbad Electric | Seix Barral, 2016
Kassel Does Not Call For Logic | Seix Barral, 2014
Girl | Alfaguara Infantil, 2013
Away From Here | Galaxia Gutenberg, 2013
Dylan's Air | Seix Barral, 2012
Children without Children | Anagrama, 1993; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2012
An Absolutely Wonderful Life. Selected Essays | PRH/Debolsillo, 2011
The slowest traveller. The art of finishing nothing | Anagram, 1992; Seix Barral, 2011
In a Lonely Place | RHM - DEBOLSILLO, 2011
Dublinesque | Seix Barral, 2010; Debolsillo, 2011
Losing Theories | Seix Barral, 2010. Colección Únicos
She was Hemingway, I’m not Auster | Alfabia, 2008
Volatile Diary | Anagrama, 2008; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2016
Explorers in the Abyss | Anagrama, 2007
Doctor Pasavento + Bastian Schneider | Anagrama, 2005; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2016; Seix Barral, 2017
Light Wind in Parma | México, Sexto Piso, 2004 / España, 2008
Paris Never Ends | Anagrama, 2004; Seix Barral, 2013; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2014
Montano’s Malady | Anagrama, 2002; Seix Barral, 2012; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2013
Bartleby & Co | Anagrama, 2000; Seix Barral, 2015; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2016
From the Restless City | Alfaguara, 2000
The Vertical Journey | Anagrama, 1999
In Order to End Up with Round Numbers | Pre-Textos, 1997
Strange Way of Life | Anagrama, 1997; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2013
A Long Way from Veracruz | Anagrama, 1995; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2011
Invented memories | Anagrama, 1994; Compactos, 2007
Exemplary Suicides | Anagrama, 1991; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2015
A House For Ever | Anagrama, 1988 / Compactos, 2002
A Brief History of Portable Literature | Anagrama, 1985; PRH-DeBolsillo, 2015
Imposture | Anagrama, 1984
An Enlightened Murderess | Tusquets, 1977 / Lengua de Trapo, 1996 / Lumen, illustrated edition, 2005